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3rd October 2018
11:14am BST
Egg count
A woman is born with all the eggs she’ll ever have and loses them throughout her lifetime in her periods. The menopause (which usually happens between 45 and 55 years of age) signals the end of a woman’s fertile life, meaning that all of her eggs are gone and she can’t conceive any more.
This is why fertility is typically affected by age. The younger you are when trying for a baby the more eggs you have and the more of a chance of conceiving.
I had was a blood test to check my levels of AMH (Anti-Müllerian Hormone). This is a hormone produced in the follicles of your ovaries and, without getting too technical, doctors use the levels of AMH in the blood to measure the amount of growing follicles in the ovaries.
This is thought to reflect your egg count or ‘ovarian reserve’. It's worth noting that although this can indicate how many eggs you have, it doesn't denote the quality of your eggs.
It was a very straightforward blood test - Dr Florencia simply took a sample and sent it off to be analysed.
I was told that the results typically take about a week to come back.
Transvaginal exam
This is exactly what it sounds like - an internal ultrasound.
It was a little invasive in that I had a narrow wand with a condom and some jelly on it put between my legs and inside me (that’s about as delicately as I can put it) but it wasn’t in any way sore or uncomfortable.
It looked just like ultrasounds look on TV - I was sitting with my legs up under a surgical blanket, looking up at a black and white picture of my womb on a screen.
Dr Florencia pointed out all of the different parts and checked for anything that could potentially harm my reproductive health like fibroids, cysts and even cancer.
She also checked out my uterine lining, looked at my egg follicles and for blocked tubes.
It was fascinating to see all the different parts of my reproductive system and gave me a serious insight into a part of my body and my health that I’d never really thought about before.
How I felt
Honestly, I didn’t think too much about the testing before I came in.
I’d be more squeamish about needles than I anything else so I was quite happy to have the blood test over and done with and then found the ultrasound to be grand.
The experience ended up being the most eye-opening medical appointment I've ever had and so regardless of the outcome, it felt worthwhile.
Want to know how I got on in my AMH test? Find out here.
This October is Fertility Month on Her, when we’ll be talking all things reproductive health and having babies.
You can check out all of our Fertility Month articles here.
Want to get in touch? Email me at anna@her.ie.Explore more on these topics:
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